Steamboat J4 skiers register top-10 finishes

The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club J4 skier knew Friday was going to be busy.

With snow washing out competition Thursday in the 2011 J4 Rocky/Central Regional Alpine Championships, it meant that Friday featured two different races. The postponement of the super G on Thursday had racers doing one run of super G and one run of giant slalom Friday at Steamboat Ski Area.

This meant full gear change and rapidly changing snow conditions for the 80 female and 80 male skiers from the Rocky Mountain and Central divisions.

“It’s a little challenging because you have to switch focus,” said Sankey, who was Steamboat’s top girls finisher in both events. Sankey finished sixth in the super G and 10th in the giant slalom. “First, it’s super G and then GS. You have to take a bunch of free runs in between, practicing your techniques.”

After Thursday’s snowstorm postponed the super G, Friday’s early conditions couldn’t have been much better. With a bluebird day and good, hard snow conditions in the morning, the course on the Sitz/See Me run was fast.

Sankey said the conditions fit her perfectly, and despite some errors on the bottom section, she was pleased with her run.

“I felt good until I got close to the bottom, then I got late on a bunch of gates,” she said. “I wasn’t making my transitions. But it was good. It’s nice to know that I made those mistakes and still did that well.”

Other Steamboat finishers in the super G were Jennie Symons in 22nd, Kristina Steinberg in 29th, Sawyer Gander in 31st, Maritza Wiedel in 32nd, Mackenzie Ward in 36th and Abigail Wiedel in 61st. McKenzie Millard did not finish.

Will McConnell was 18th, Elliot Ryan was 21st, Channing Conner was 25th, Alexander Coffey was 34th, and Andrew McCawley was 40th. Sam Frackowiak did not finish.

In the afternoon giant slalom, with temperatures rising, the snow got softer and the course started to get beat up.

“The course conditions weren’t super good, so I’m happy with the way I handled them,” Seymour said after his giant slalom run. “It was just the way the ruts and holes were forming. The snow was a little crumbly.”

It didn’t seem to affect Seymour, however, as he finished third in the giant slalom. McConnell was 17th, Frackowiak was 20th, Coffey was 27th, McCawley was 28th, and Ryan was 38th. Conner did not finish.

On the girls side, in addition to Sankey’s finish, Symons was 26th, Millard was 30th, Maritza Wiedel was 36th, Steinberg was 42nd, Gander was 44th, Ward was 54th and Abigail Wiedel was 62nd.

The J4 championships resume today with a pair of slalom runs at Howelsen Hill. The boys first run is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. with the girls to follow at 9:45 a.m.